


The Car

by waknatious



Series: Getting To Know Me [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen - Freeform, Swen - Freeform, swanqueen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 17:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11972487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waknatious/pseuds/waknatious
Summary: The inside of a Mercedes 560SL is a quiet place.When you're sitting alone with someone and suddenly feeling a bit awkward, well then... it's way too quiet. Each breath, each clearing of a throat – even swallowing nervously sounds embarrassingly loud. If you shift your weight even slightly the leather seats squeak and groan, and the sliding of fabric on fabric sounds like sandpaper.





	The Car

**Author's Note:**

> SWAN QUEEN
> 
> As with "The Booth" (the first story in the series) this is straight up canon-divergent "what if" FLUFF - there is literally nothing of substance here. It's just a piece of my headcanon based on nothing. If you haven't read The Booth please go back and hit that first; it's not long.
> 
> This is part of a series I'm (still) tentatively calling "Getting To Know Me," where these two idiots figure out how to manage their lives with this major shift.
> 
> As always, Reviews are Life - TYIA  
> VvLSQ!!!  
> W

**The Car**

****

The inside of a Mercedes 560SL is a quiet place.

****

When you're sitting alone with someone and suddenly feeling a bit awkward, well then... it's _way_ too quiet. Each breath, each clearing of a throat – even swallowing nervously sounds embarrassingly loud. If you shift your weight even slightly the leather seats squeak and groan, and the sliding of fabric on fabric sounds like sandpaper.

****

* * *

 

 

 _I should have started the car by now. Why am I paralyzed?_ Regina thought to herself.

Emma wasn't moving either. She had smiled sweetly as she got in and buckled her seatbelt, but now she was just sitting with her phone in her hand like she planned on doing something with it.

But she wasn't doing anything with it.

Regina knew that she was formulating a text message in her head and mustering the courage to send it. Apparently that wasn't going well. She also supposed, now that she thought about it, that she herself was simply waiting and giving Emma the space she needed to... do whatever she needed to do. She looked over at her passenger as she reached forward and put the key in the ignition. Even the jarring sound of keys jingling in the silent automobile didn’t snap Emma out of her apparent trance.

Regina paused short of turning the engine over, instead releasing her grip on the keys and letting her hand drop back to her lap. With a quiet sigh she reached over and put her hand on Emma's arm.

****

“Emma, honey,” she said and lightly pushed on her forearm, encouraging her to put the phone down.

Emma looked up and seemed momentarily confused. “Oh. Yeah, I um... sorry,” she fumbled, smiling weakly. “We're uh...” she started. “So I have to um...” she sighed. “Ah shit,” she huffed.

“We discussed this dear; he's likely asleep. It's approaching eleven o'clock in the evening,” said Regina, grasping Emma's wrist lightly, caressing it with her thumb and smiling encouragingly. “I think it can wait, can't it?”

Emma grimaced. “Yeah, I suppose it can,” she said, and then made a face that said she was clearly uncomfortable again already.

“Emma.” Regina said simply. She leaned her arm on the center console and reached across, cupping her left hand behind Emma's neck and drawing the woman to her. She kissed her gently. Emma didn't hesitate to let herself be kissed, but also didn't apply any intent of her own to the meeting. She seemed to “accept” the kiss graciously. She sighed again when the moment was past and looked beseechingly into Regina's eyes.

“Tell me I'm not a bad person.”

“Emma Swan, you are not a bad person.”

“Yeah see, but you used my last name so it sounds snarky and now I don't believe you,” she pouted and crossed her arms, looking out the windshield and pretending to read the neon signs in the bar windows. Regina was almost sure her bottom lip was protruding just a bit.

“Oh my god, are you serious?”

“You know I'm not; cut it out. Don't go getting all offended.”

****

Regina smiled at that and looked out the windshield as well. Her eyes grew unfocused as she allowed her mind to drift over the events of the evening thus far. It had gone well for her – better than she had imagined it would, and she had been imagining it for an _oh-so-very-long time now_. She'd played out almost every possible scenario, from every possible starting point, in countless locales around this tiny little township, all in her head with a hundred different outcomes. She had not, however, expected to run into Emma in this backwater dive at the edge of nowhere.

This was a place she would come to every so often when she needed to be away from Storybrooke's typical citizenry. It didn't even have a name as far as she knew; there was just a large rectangular sign over the door that said “BAR” in block letters, red on white. There was a gravel parking lot out front that could hold maybe a dozen cars. Nobody here seemed to care about the Mayor or the Evil Queen, and she didn't recognize many faces either, though she probably should – at some point she'd created memories for them all. She supposed that these were the denizens of the far corners of the Enchanted Forest, an immense place with multiple kingdoms and shires and little fiefdoms. These were the folk who stayed out of things that didn't pertain to them, unlike the meddling, bumbling do-gooders at the center of town. She hadn't thought Emma even knew about this place, but then as the Sheriff she'd probably had to respond to a call or two out here at some point.

She _had_ found Emma Swan here though, and all of her plans and scenarios had gone out the window. Every time she saw the woman lately her brain seemed to empty itself, which was always infuriating and exhilarating at the same time. Even just watching her move around a pool table with steady grace, deftly pocketing shot after shot was like a slow-motion glamour video produced solely for Regina's infatuation bank. And when Emma had stretched her lithe figure almost bodily across the table to line up a difficult bank-shot, it was just... _oh god arms, those arms... and those jeans..._ and then her hair had moved directly under the pool table light and it glowed like magical fire, illuminating the entire back corner of the bar. If there had been an angelic choir in attendance they'd have burst into song... it was just ridiculous.

So of course, _of course_ , she'd just blurted out “Come home with me” as if it didn't matter, even from the standpoint of basic propriety. Such delicious chaos swirled about this blond cyclone and she found it absolutely intoxicating.

Intoxicated people did not make good decisions.

****

“I'm so smitten with you,” Regina admitted out loud with a chuckle.

“Yeah well you smite me pretty hard too,” said Emma, still gazing out the windshield without really focusing on anything. She leaned on the armrest of the passenger door and propped her chin in her hand.

“I do?” Regina smirked.

“Yeah, obviously… apparently I ‘memorize’ you, remember?” she said, shaking her head. “You smite me for sure.” She looked out the window again. “You know what really does it for me though?”

“I'm sure I don't know,” said Regina with a smile.

“You 'Emma-honey'ed me just now. That's the third time you've done it.”

“I what?”

“When you want to convey affection for me while you're telling me to do something, like use a damn coaster, you say 'Emma, honey.' You use the same phrase with Henry when you ask him to get you something or whatever, like 'Henry, honey, get me the colander from below the cook-top, please?'” She smiled into her hand where it rested under her chin and drew absent-minded little circles on her thigh with the extended index finger of her other. “You should have seen the way he raised his eyebrows at me the first time you said it; it was very Regina-like,” she chuckled. “He was grinning too though; I think it made him happy. Him and me both.”

Regina beamed and she could feel her face flush.

“And that smile,” said Emma, looking over at her again with a warm smile of her own. “That smile made me kiss you tonight.”

Now Regina blushed furiously and smiled down shyly at the awkwardly wringing hands in her lap. “Actually I told you I was going to kiss you, and I did.”

“No, you asked me if it was okay if you kissed me, and then you smiled that smile at me. I can never say no to that smile.”

Regina laughed a very happy laugh, “I promise to use my powers only for good,” she proffered with a feigned air of solemnity, but she couldn’t really force the giddy smile all the way down.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” mimed Emma with mock gravity and a dramatic scowl.

“Batman?” asked Regina.

“Oh! Nice try!” laughed Emma. “From Spiderman. Uncle Ben said it actually.”

“Ah,” Regina said with a grin. She chuckled once more then exhaled resolutely. “It's time.”

She put her foot on the brake, reached up, and turned the key in the ignition causing the Merc to roar confidently to life. She backed the car out in an arc parallel to the quiet highway, put it in drive, and with the sound of a revving motor and gravel popping under the tires they were on their way.

****

The two-lane county trunk back to Storybrooke-proper was fairly dark as most roads away from town were, necessitating high-beam headlights as the road passed through stretches of forest and meadow. The waxing crescent moon shone intermittently through the tree canopy as her stout German sedan hugged the turns confidently, and they sped through the countryside at a good clip.

She was still smiling to herself over the easy domesticity with which they got along nowadays when Emma reached over and rested a hand on her thigh. She was staring out the passenger window watching trees and fields go by in the night with her chin still resting in her right hand, her elbow still propped on the door handle. Regina took her right hand off the steering wheel and covered Emma's with her own, curling her fingers around into her palm.

Emma gave her fingers a light squeeze back. “This is so easy,” she said.

“I was thinking the very same thing.”

“Of course you were,” Emma chuckled. She leaned her right temple on her knuckles so she could look over at Regina. “When did you know?”

“When did I know what I felt for you?”

Regina's eyes roamed the road ahead steadily, alert for the possible darting rabbit or bounding deer, and Emma took a moment to enjoy the way the dashboard lights illuminated her face with a soft glow. “Yeah,” she said.

Regina chuckled, “Um, the day I met you?”

“Nah c'mon, not really,” Emma scoffed.

“No, you're right, not exactly. But I definitely felt 'something' right away. It made that whole evening twice as confusing for me.”

“Yeah, for me too, totally,” said Emma. “I was straight-up flabbergasted at how good-looking you were, and how awkward that made me feel, what with you being my kid's mom and all.” She chuckled a little at that memory. “But that's not what I'm asking,” she continued, “I mean this…”  Emma mimicked Regina's gesture from earlier in the evening, “like what we have here between us. When did you know you wanted this, or more of this?”

Regina sighed thoughtfully and mulled that over for a moment. She put on a turn signal as they began to head back into town. “That's hard to answer. It's been a build-up of a lot of little things as we've grown closer as a family.” She paused to think a bit more, making the left off the county highway onto Fern Road toward downtown. “I don't know when, really. But one day a few months ago I saw you w-” she stuttered and cleared her throat, “... with um, with him... just being yourselves and smiling together, and I...” She let out a heavy breath. “It hurt.”

“Hmm,” Emma hummed, and looked out the window again. “I'm sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, dear.”

“I know,” said Emma, “but I hate to think of you in pain, so... I'm sorry.” She looked over at Regina, mesmerized again as the now regularly-spaced street lights drew hypnotic patterns of light and shadow across her beautiful face.

“Okay,” said Regina with a warm smile as she switched on a turn signal again and made a right toward Mifflin. “But I'm a big girl and I'm in charge of my own feelings,” she said. “I suppose, to answer your question... I suppose that's when I admitted it to myself.” As she drove on, modest houses and corner businesses made way for large, comfortable homes with beautiful hedges, trees and immaculate landscaping, all glowing invitingly with expensive outdoor lighting. She rolled down her window and inhaled the heady scent of flowering trees and shrubs, and wet grass in the cool evening.

“I love this neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t think I could enjoy it more even if I’d designed it myself…”

“Uh… you did, R’gina.”

“I know. That was just me patting myself on the back for a job well done,” she said with a pleased grin as she flipped on the turn signal one last time. Emma just smiled wryly and shook her head.

As she turned onto Mifflin St., Regina could see in her peripheral vision that Emma had her phone in her hand again. Knowing that Emma felt guilty for what she was doing here with her, or maybe intending to do rather, she began to feel guilty too. And being responsible for Emma's discomfort made her uncomfortable.

“I'm sorry too, Emma.”

“For what?”

“For springing this on you rather forcefully, and for asking you to choose me over someone you've been committed to for a while now. I know you feel guilty, and I'm sorry.”

“I'm a big girl and I'm in charge of my own feelings, Regina,” Emma echoed. “This isn't on you.”

****

Regina drove the glossy black sedan up the driveway at 108 Mifflin and put it in park, thumbing the switch to roll her window back up. She looked over at her passenger again, who now rested her forehead in one hand while the thumb of her other hovered over her phone's screen. Regina didn't shut the engine off; she let it run for the background noise. The last thing Emma needed right now was that ghastly silence again.

As she waited for Emma to make a decision about the device in her hand, she reached behind the center console to grab her purse. Doing so brought her very close to Emma's shoulder and she could smell the lingering vanilla of her shampoo mixed with the musky scent of her well-worn leather jacket. She played at fumbling with the purse a bit, just to have an excuse to be there a while longer.

Emma side-eyed her with a grin. “Everything okay back there?”

“My, um, purse seems to be stuck or something, the handle... hmmm,” she lied. “Your hair smells really good by the way,” Regina replied with an attempted air of nonchalance.

“Gross. I literally took a shower like seventeen hours ago,” said Emma with a frown. “It was a long day. Don't smell me right now, ew....” She sighed and looked back to the phone in her hand. “Anyway shush, be still – you're distracting me.”

Regina turned back round to the driver's position with her purse and pulled out her own phone. She flicked the screen to life just to have something to do. _Email... no. Twitter? Don't really want to know right now. Solitaire? Oh for heaven's sake..._ She thumbed back and forth through her scant three screens of icons a few times and finally decided Instagram was mindless enough. Henry's feed had nothing new – probably because there was no cell service out past the lake. Ruby had posted a few pictures of food and a cute selfie of her and Belle at a nice restaurant she didn't recognize. Snow had another... _oh my god so many..._ of Neal sitting in a pile of toys in their heinously messy living room. Et cetera. Boring.

The glow to her right let her know that Emma had finally woken her phone and was probably headed toward the fateful text message. Her pulse quickened and she felt nervous, which annoyed her to no end. _Why should I have to feel bad about this? His loss; my gain – that's the way this world works. He didn't get the deal done and it's my turn; she's mine now_ , Regina fumed silently.

Except she wasn't. Not yet. And Emma's innate sense of duty and honor could still make this whole thing messy. That’s what was making her nervous of course – what if this whole thing fell apart before it had even really started?

 _Regina Mills, you are a selfish bitch,_ she said to herself and closed her eyes to clear her mind. _Support._ Emma needed support. Selfless support. She shut the engine off.

“Emma?”

Emma sighed with slight annoyance. “R'gina?” she replied without looking up.

“Would you like to come inside, or do you need to do... that... right here and now? I understand if you do. Right now though, there's a pitcher of water in the refrigerator that's calling my name. And I... I could make us some coffee? Or tea? There's scotch in the den too if you're interested.” Smiling as supportive a smile as she thought she could, she reached out and tucked Emma's beautiful blond hair behind her ear so she could see her face. That face was quite somber at the moment.

Emma put her phone back to sleep and tucked it into her right jacket pocket. She stuffed both hands into her jacket pockets then and straightened up with a huff, looking around at where she was.

She smiled. “Holy shit I'm at Regina Mills' house.”

Regina's smile widened. “Yes dear, you are. And... _And_... she just invited you in for a nightcap,” she said with a light laugh. “Let's go inside. I'm a little hungry too, and there's some cold chicken salad in the refrigerator.”

“Ah, bribing me with food I see. We should add that to the list of powers you should only use for good – your cooking.”

“I said _I was_ hungry, Miss Swan. I didn't offer to make you anything,” said Regina in her Mayor Voice™.

“Awww??” Emma pined with a mock pout.

****

Regina laughed her second very happy laugh of the evening, opened her door and got out, hooking her purse on her left arm and digging for her house keys with her right.

“Why don't you just put your house key on the ring with your car key so you don't have to do that every time?” asked Emma as she got out and closed the door on her side.

“And why don't _you_... stop bickering at me like we're already married.” Regina shot back with a look. “For your information, it says in the Mercedes owner's manual that one should not unnecessarily overload the keyring for the ignition key as excessive weight will wear out the cylinder over time.”

Emma laughed. “Of course you read the manual for your car,” she said with a bright smile. “It's just one key though, right? You always go in through the front door. One key doesn't weigh much?”

“Enough, Miss Swan.”

“Oh shit, that's two 'Miss Swan's in sixty seconds; I'd better shut the hell up, huh,” Emma said with her typically charming and mischievous grin.

“That would be wise, dear,” said Regina with a roll of her eyes, turning and heading up the walk to the front door. Emma followed her. When she reached the door Emma moved directly into her personal space from behind and wrapped an arm around her waist, eliciting a small gasp, and she nearly dropped her keys.

“Regina.” said Emma in a very quiet, serious voice. She brushed her fingers lightly over Regina's abdomen just below her navel. Emma couldn't have known, but that was one of her personal erogenous zones and the contact shot violent butterflies through her center, making her nearly weak in the knees instantly. She let out a shuddering breath and put a hand on the door jam to steady herself.

“Yes, Emma?” she asked in almost a whisper.

Emma moved her hand to Regina's right hip and pulled lightly to turn her around. As Regina met her eyes questioningly, she continued. “Regina, for the last little bit here we've been carrying on like it's just us – like it's just any other day that I'm coming over to spend some time with you and Henry or something. Banter-banter, blah-blah-blah, just Emma and Regina yucking it up like they always do.” She made a face that was a bit of a grimace, like she was finding something difficult in that. “But isn't this something else? I mean, it is, right? You asked me to 'Come Home With You'” she said, again with the big air quotes, “and we both know what you meant by that. But this is easy.” She paused and cocked her head a little. “Is it too easy?” She stuffed her hands in her pockets and took half a step back. She seemed to have something more to say but she just stopped there and looked at Regina, who was forming a smile.

“My-my-my... Snow White's daughter does love some drama, doesn't she?” said Regina in her deepest, sassiest Evil Queen voice.

“Hey, not cool!” Emma began loudly. “You ha-”

“Emma, honey... please. You ar-”

They both heard it at the same time. Regina's hand shot up to cover her mouth, her eyes wide, while Emma grinned and blushed. The front porch erupted with laughter and Emma surged forward to wrap her up in a big bear hug where Regina chuckled into her shoulder. After a moment Regina looked up and pushed back a bit in the embrace, her eyes lingering on that shoulder, her nostrils filled once again with the scent of vanilla and leather. Emma's arms dropped to circle her waist.

Regina looked up at her. The blond wasn't that much taller than she was, but it was still “up”, and she liked it. “Emma that's just it – you belong here,” she said. “It's easy because _it is_ just us. You and I... Regina and Emma against the world like it always is.”

“Emma and Regina, I said.”

“Oh stop it.” Regina said and playfully smacked her clavicle through the thick jacket. “That doesn't matter. Yes, this is different. And you coming over tonight does mean something other than what it usually does.” She thought about that for a moment. “Does it really though? You're seeing this maybe just a bit differently from what I do, because lately when you've come over, I...” she paused for a moment, “I... I haven't wanted you to leave.” She searched Emma's eyes briefly. “Has it been so different for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I may have admitted to myself what I felt for you months ago, and for you it was just this evening, but you've had these feelings for a while now.”

“You sound very sure of that,” said Emma with a slight frown, but Regina could see that she knew it was true.

“I _am_ sure, and I think so are you dear,” Regina continued. “Right before we kissed this evening, back at the bar, in the booth, I saw it dawn on you just how much you'd been in denial.” Emma closed her eyes. “Tell me - how have you felt, Emma, when I've invited you over, or when Henry has? And how have you felt when we linger at the front door in the evening when you're heading home?”

Emma chuckled through a tight-lipped grin. She shook her head at herself like she had earlier in the evening then looked up at the night sky and exhaled loudly. It was a beautiful evening and the air was cool and clear, the deep indigo firmament dotted with glistening stars. “Excited,” she said, as she looked back down and met Regina's eyes. “Whenever I know I'm coming over here I get excited... sometimes it’s butterflies,” she hummed and smiled again. “And yeah, when it's time to go... I don't want to.”

“Well, you're here.” Regina reached up and cupped Emma's cheek, feeling secure and happy in her arms. “And you don't have to go.”

In reply Emma's stomach growled loudly. She snickered and blushed with embarrassment.

“Oh, how incredibly romantic a response,” Regina laughed. “How about some cold chicken salad on wheat, with a little arugula?” she asked with a smile.

“Aw yessss!” said Emma, resisting the urge to fist pump. She paused as she thought of something. “Wait, did you put grapes and apples in it this time?”

“I did,” Regina replied with a questioning lilt and some side-eye, knowing what was coming next. “That’s how one makes chicken salad, dear.”

“And are you going to yell at me if I pick them out and leave them on my plate?”

“Yes child, I am,” said Regina and began to disentangle herself from Emma.

“Ugh, fine, I'll eat them this time,” said Emma making a face. “Who puts fruit and meat together?”

****

Regina smiled and shook her head at the blond's juvenile petulance and turned to unlock and open the front door. She stepped inside and held the door wide for Emma with a warm smile as the fancy automatic lighting system illuminated a path from the foyer to the kitchen. Emma sauntered in confidently and smacked a kiss on Regina's cheek as she passed her.

Regina grinned from ear to ear and watched the blond's sultry walk as she crossed the foyer, her eyes finally settling on those amazing blue jeans as they disappeared around a corner on the way to her kitchen. “I'm hungrryyy!” Emma yelled back to her from the other room.

 _Holy shit I've got Emma Swan in my house,_ she said to herself mimicking Emma's earlier observation as she closed the front door and locked it for the night. And _she did_ the fist pump, yes she did, silently mouthing the word _Yes!_ with a big goofy smile on her face.

Regina headed for the kitchen, with a spring in her step despite the late hour. Linear time be damned – she was going to make every bit of this night count.

 


End file.
